The third installment of our patio preview series takes us to the newest spawn of a mini empire. The folks behind the Green Room have been providing students with cheap eats and affordable beer for as long as I can remember. It, and its brethren (Red Room, nirvana and java house) are practically a rite of passage for freshmen (and beyond) as they try to assimilate into downtown life.

And while many of the places certainly have a questionable DineSafe record and shoddy service even on the best of days, if you attended post secondary education in Toronto (and probably even if you didn't) there's a good chance you've logged a substantial number of hours under the roof of one - if not all - of these establishments. The formula is simple: make it cheap and eclectic.

The newest addition to the family, Pour Boy - located at Bloor and Manning in Koreatown - takes a page straight from the manual serving the staples: pad thai, crispy chow mein etc. along with a few new additions like a burger and fries. But is the patio worth a visit? Lets see.

Who goes there?
Students of course, or at least that's who you'd expect. To be honest though, the handful of times I've stopped by Pour Boy, it's been virtually empty. Truth be told, that's exactly how I like it. If you're someone looking for a quiet place to set up a laptop and get some work done (and you prefer Creemore to coffee) this patio is perfect.

Grub and Libations
As I mentioned, cheap and eclectic. Only at a place like Pour Boy can you find chicken curry on the same menu as pad thai, chicken fajitas, a burger and fries and all day breakfast--and they're all under $7. Pair that with $4.50 pints and it's very difficult to find reasons not to call in sick and pretend you're on vacation.

Odds of scoring (a seat)
Refreshingly easy really. That could certainly change during the first few weeks of a sweltering summer but for the time being the18 some odd seats are ripe for the plucking.

A view to a ...
Manning is not the most picturesque street in the city. The view does, however, provide a brilliant peak into the goings on over at the fruit market across the street. I once got drunk to the spectacle of a man husking corn with a knife for well over an hour. It was riveting. This place is just off the main drag of Koreatown though, so there is still plenty of foot traffic.

SPF recommended
Pour Boy opens at 10:30a.m. every day and stays that way right till 2am, so I'd say this east facing patio can offer a solid seven hours of sun if that's what you're looking for. That being said, if you're a fair skinned ninny like myself who burns like a biscuit, just grab a table closer to the building and by early afternoon the shade will begin to come.

Overall impressions.
Pour Boy feels much more neighbourhoody than its predecessors, a bit more like a local rather than a destination. But that's good news for people in and around Bloor and Manning because the prices here just can't be beat, anywhere. There's little in the way of atmosphere -- no flowers, trees, and far too much concrete, but those are the trade offs I suppose.

Previously in this series:

• House on Parliament
• Three Speed

A special thanks to Rickard's White for sponsoring our patio adventures.